Proper rodtip position for stripping and hook-setting.

Make your first few presentations as tight to the bottom as possible. Pompano are generally foraging head down, tail up, checking out any telltale movement, puff or flash on or near the bottom. They are largely sight feeders, so keep your offering in the strike zone, only a few inches off the bottom. Take into account the speed of your drift, sink rate of your sinking fly line (yes, you will need one), leader length and fly weight. Although your floating line can work in four feet or less with a heavy sinking fly, forget it in deeper water. Give the fly time to get down—drop your rodtip almost to the water after casting and just wait a good 10 to 15 seconds before you make your first strips. The rodtip-down position is fundamental; this allows for the greatest range of motion when it comes time to pick up a heavy fly and sinking line. The position also helps when strip-setting the hook. Furthermore, it’ll help you detect short strikes (common with pomps) and eliminates slack that makes it tough to set the hook.

Keep your line under control with a stripping basket or a “fuzzy rug.” I use the plastic fake grass mats when the wind is strong. Pompano will take line once hooked and get on the reel most of the time, so be ready to pick up your rodtip and carefully pay out line. A reel with a good drag and palming rim on the spool will keep things under control, and be ready to walk the gunnels if you hook a big fish! Hooked pompano are frantic and change direction continuously. They especially like to head under the boat, and toward your lower unit.

Another good practice is casting straight out from the bow or stern (at 12 or 6 o’clock position), which allows your line to sink almost drag-free and in turn much faster. This type presentation will very thoroughly cover the deepest section of the water column as it quarters around to 90 degrees while you drift a flat. You may also need to shake a few feet of line out of your rodtip, similar to the “dead drift” approach used by freshwater trout stream fishermen. This is especially helpful when using a floating line or intermediate sinker, teamed with a relatively long, light leader. The faster the sink rate of your fly line the shorter the leader you’ll be able to use, a real plus when drifting deep over a ragged bottom. Don’t hesitate to make a brisk strip hookset when you feel a possible strike; you can always drop the fly back on a false take.

Toss a floating marker with weight to mark schools.

Leaders for pompano fishing can be as short as four feet to a maximum of seven feet. Fluorocarbon leader materials are a must, I believe, particularly in clear water. A simple level leader of 20-pound test will suffice if the water is slightly stained or if you encounter jacks, Spanish and bluefish mixed in with the pomps. For clear water or when using particularly small flies, try a 12-pound tippet. Pompano will strike with authority but can be picky.

After you locate a pod of skippers, or hook your first pompano, throw out a floating marker. Since you’ll be drifting along, keep the marker at the ready. Roughly triangulating landmarks such as crab pot buoys and other stationary reference points is also a good idea. Taking GPS numbers can help you return to potential hotspots day after day, though pompano usually stay on the move, unless ample food keeps them around.

Drifting anglers score on skipping fish.

Pompano eat tiny stuff at times, so keep your flies on the small side, 2 1⁄2 inches or smaller. I prefer flies with a beadhead, large beadchain or lead eyes for sink rate. Champagne-colored, white, root-beer or chartreuse flies dressed to look like minnows or shrimp all score for me. Many fly fishers toss pretty crafty sandflea patterns (available in many coastal fly shops). When in doubt, Clouser Minnows certainly take pompano, but you might want to keep ‘em short because pomps are short-strikers at times. For that matter, you can dress up some flies to look just like jigs—big lead eyes, and whatever skirt color seems to be working for the jiggers in your area.

FS